How to Transfer On-Hand Inventory from a Location to Unavailable Status in Primary Location?

[mnspc]

Hello Shopify Community,

I'm currently facing a challenge with managing my store's inventory across different locations and could use some expert advice.

My store operates with two locations: Location A is designated for online store sales, while Location B was initially set up to track inventory marked as "not sellable." I'm now looking to streamline my operations by eliminating Location B and utilizing Shopify's feature for handling unavailable inventory at Location A.

The main issue I'm encountering is the transition of on-hand inventory from Location B to the unavailable inventory at Location A. I've attempted a couple of methods, but neither has been fully successful:

1. Moving inventory via GraphQL: This approach does work to move the inventory. However, it results in the unavailable inventory becoming inaccessible via the Shopify backend, as it seems to become exclusively manageable by the app that performed the GraphQL operation. This is not a viable option for us, as we need the further manage inventory via Shopify backend.

2. Utilizing Shopify’s inventory export and import feature: Unfortunately, this method only alters the available and on-hand inventory numbers, and doesn't address the specific need to transfer inventory to an 'unavailable' status.

Given these challenges, I'm seeking advice on the best way to proceed. Is there a method or a tool within Shopify that can facilitate this transfer without the drawbacks I've encountered? Perhaps there's a workaround or a best practice that I'm not aware of.

Any insights or suggestions from the community would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your time and help!

Best regards,

Mnspc

[Liam]

Hi Mnspc,

Would a possible option be to continue using GraphQL to manage inventory, but also build a UI for the app so the actions can be accessible from the Shopify admin (via your apps UI)? It won't solve the issue that you can't use the native admin settings, but there will be a UI in the admin that can be interacted with. 

[mnspc]

Hi @Liam!

Thank you for your reply. I would consider building a simple app UI to enable inventory management, but I think it might be more development-intensive than I initially thought. I haven't explored app UI development yet.

I am migrating the inventory stock level data from a CSV file using NocoDB and n8n.io, and then syncing it back to Shopify through a development app installed in the store, which allows me to access the admin API via REST and GraphQL where needed.

If you have any documentation on this or can recommend an app from the store, it would be incredibly helpful. Otherwise, I might need to have someone handle this during an upcoming inventory counting session.

Thank you!

Mnspc

[Liam]

Would an app like Stock&Buy Inventory Management work for you?

[mnspc]

Sorry. Long time no hear. Topic was paused for a while.

Thank you for the suggestion. For 1000 products it might be a bit too big. The shop is also not growing extensively.